I must take issue with a recent column that appeared in the Sun by my colleague Mark Bonokoski, under the headline “Goodbye Kellie Leitch, but thanks for the bizarre entertainment”.
The Conservative MP for Simcoe and former leadership candidate is not seeking re-election and, with the House of Commons adjourned for the summer, has now brought her two-term political career to a close.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, is Bono’s conclusion, critiquing her leadership attempt as that of a “Trumpian adherent wanting all who come to Canada to be grilled to a sweat about their version of Canadian values.” Leitch proposed that we submit newcomers to some form of Canadian values test before receiving their citizenship.
I was actually reflecting on Leitch’s proposal shortly before Bono’s column came out, as a Leger poll released last week found that two thirds of respondents across the country agree with the statement that the feds should “first prioritize limiting the number of immigrants we welcome to Canada each year as we may be reaching our limit to integrate them in our communities.”
The Liberals and their allies like to sound the alarm over such polls, claiming that they demonstrate a rise in anti-immigrant or xenophobic views. But in their eagerness to slander the majority of their fellow countrymen, they always seem to ignore that integration is usually the key ingredient at play in such polls.
It’s not about race or ethnicity or skin colour. It’s about our values and ensuring we all get along. This is why – as I wrote in detail back when Leitch first proposed the idea – a number of European countries typically celebrated by progressives have such values tests on the books.
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